OUR HISTORY

The Beginnings

In June of 2011, Sara Lein and her then 18-year-old daughter, Breelynn, embarked on a 32-day trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They planned to stay in the orphanage that was once the home to Sara’s nephews, Eli and JP. Sara’s sister and brother-in-law, Lori and Scott, had been connected to Haiti and this little orphanage, A New Arrival Center, since Eli’s adoption many years prior. Their son JP had just made his way to the U.S. a year before, in 2010, in the midst of the earthquake aftermath. 

As Lori left Haiti with her young son Eli in her arms, she promised to “never forget his first home.” She returned several times, providing support for the A New Arrival (ANA) orphanage financially and in continued partnership with Director Rock Cayo.

After the earthquake, Rock partnered with a generous donor from Los Angeles to shift the orphanage to a primary school, believing that he had the space and there was a need in the community. The donor, also a parent of adopted Haitian children, continued the connection to his children’s first home, sending a cargo shipment of supplies, and funded the salaries for teachers, as well as textbooks and uniforms for students, thus the beginning of A New Arrival Center School (ANACS).

In the first few days of their trip, the orphanage director, Rock Cayo, asked Sara and Breelynn if they would be willing to teach an English class to some local children who had been attending the small school Rock had established. They began classes, and each day, more and more kids from the neighborhood showed up, eager to learn.

The Foundation of Kozefo:
Sponsorships, Primary School, & Food Program

Eager to continue the work, Sara returned to Haiti in December 2011 and June 2012 to provide teacher training and partner with another American, Everest Mueller, who was living at the school/orphanage, as he worked on research for graduate school. Everest and another Haitian grad student, Edwige Vilbrun, created the concept of Kozefò, using Creole words “koze,” meaning to speak, and “fò” meaning loudly, as a vision for bringing attention to the needs regarding education in Haiti.  The school had begun with 30 students - 15 per class in grades 1 and 2.  The following years added an additional classroom, one grade level at a time. 

In June 2013, Sara and Bree, along with friends Ann Pearcy and Doreen Haroldson, who were in the process of adopting two of the remaining young boys at the orphanage, visited Haiti with the intent to close the school due to a change in funding.  The initial donor was stepping away from support, leaving a gap to cover staff salaries, rent, student uniforms, and books, that had been covered these first three years of the school. The staff plead their case for keeping the school open, noting the impact that it was making in the community, providing education for 45 students at the time, free of charge, for the children to attend.  

The initial donor’s friend and fellow adoptive parent of Haitian children, Barbara Einstein joined the work of Kozefò with her generosity and connections to help establish a 501(c)3 nonprofit entity that could support the efforts to fund this primary school.  Barbara and Teddy, have four daughters that once called this orphanage home.  Daniella, Vairlene, Magdaline, and Stephanie joined in, hosting fund-raising events and returning to Haiti on team trips with Kozefò.

Growing Support:
Organized Team Trips

The support of family and friends resulted in the development of the Kozefò board, fundraising events, and a website to share updates and seek student sponsorships.  The school continued expanding, adding one class each year as the students progressed through the grades. 

As supporters increased, a plan was hatched to take a team to Haiti.  That first team trip of 25 was the beginning of a season of team trips and an expansion of supporters. Many of those travelers have served or are still serving on the Kozefò Board, and another adoption dream was planted on that trip with the Rodriguez family.

Sara led two team trips per year - winter and summer, sharing the community of the ANACS students and staff with many. Highlights of those trips include attending the year-end school program called a Spektak, teaching lessons to the students as we partner with a crew of interpreters that became friends, communicating messages from sponsors to students and back to sponsors, neighborhood walks and home visits, introducing the students to the beach for their first time, and sharing meals with the staff. 

There have been construction and painting projects, lessons from medical professionals on health and safety, teacher seminars on literacy, critical thinking, classroom management, and universal design for learning. 

Partnerships through the years include Woodbury Community Church, Celebration Lutheran Church, Celebrate Preschool, Paynesville Lutheran Church, Saint Paul Public Schools,  White Bear Lake Public Schools, Annandale Elementary School, West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area Schools, and Duluth Public Schools.

Innovations in Technology

The board grew, and with that, new innovations. Sara, with the support of board members Bree and Laura, drafted Kozefò’s first grant application (2015) in an attempt to get access to technology in the school. In the midst of this process, Steve Asper, a former colleague of Sara’s and a tech specialist in public schools, reached out with a desire to get connected with our work in Haiti.

While the grant application was not approved, a donor offered to fund a classroom set of 30 Chromebooks, printer, and an LCD project with a donation of $13,000. This opened the opportunities for our students to have access to the internet and all that it offers - research, learning tools, educational games, and of course YouTube.

Steve now leads the technology initiative for Kozefò in Haiti, looking for opportunities to continue development, establishing ANACS as the first Google School in Haiti, running wifi routers to increase access, providing teacher training in tech, and creating unique partnerships for students and staff with classrooms in the US in White Bear Lakes and Duluth. 

A New Chapter:
Owning land and Building a New School

As the enrollment increased with the addition of a new class each year, space became a concern. The initial classrooms that had begun in the main house and the carport, extended to rooftop classrooms, (2014) and even into the adjoining lot that had been home to chickens (2016.) The space was maxed out with 150 students in classrooms throughout the space and the landlord gave notice that the lease would be ending in October 2017.

Kozefo leaders began searching for new properties to purchase and build a new school before the next school year began. On a team trip in February 2018, they visited the eventual site for A New Arrival Center School.

With a goal of purchasing that property and funding the construction project, the Kozefò Building Campaign was launched, with a goal of raising $500,000. We partnered with Jephte Auguste, a young engineering student, who took the lead as both the designer and foreman of the construction site. This purchase of property and the new school facility was accomplished through the generosity of a true village of supporters, the majority from Minnesota, however, there were donations from family, friends, team trip travelers, and complete strangers from across the United States.

Additional growth to the site occurred in May 2019 when Keegan Eng, a teenager working toward her Girl Scout Gold Award, proposed a project to bring a library to the school, providing children’s books in French for students to check out.

Rock Cayo, ANACS Director, continues to dream of further expansion to support the students, their families, and members of the community. We, at Kozefò continue to dream of ways to support that vision and continue our mission for years to come.